Can UCLA Alum Lead MLB Team Back to Postseason?

Current Arizona Diamondbacks manager and UCLA Alum Torey Lovullo will look to lead his young players back to the World Series in 2025.

Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo against the San Francisco Giants in the sixth inning at Chase Field in Phoenix on Sept. 25, 2024. / Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Former UCLA Bruin and current manager of the MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks, Torey Lovullo, has a tall task ahead of him going into the 2025 MLB season. Now, dealing with the juggernaut team that is the Los Angeles Dodgers, can the UCLA alum get the Diamondbacks back to the playoffs?

Lovullo has been the manager of the Diamondbacks since 2017 and has found success sprinkled in between the down years in Arizona. The most recent trip for the Diamondbacks to the playoffs saw the team win the National League Pennant and march to the World Series.

Lovullo was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the fifth round of the 1987 MLB Draft back in 1987. During his eight-year career, Lovullo played for the Tigers, New York Yankees, California Angels, Seattle Mariners, Oakland Athletics, Clevland Indians (now Guardians) and Philadelphia Phillies.

While the Diamondbacks eventually lost to the Texas Rangers in the 2024 World Series, the Diamondbacks, under Lovullo, made their way to their first World Series appearance since winning their first championship in the 2001 season, claiming their second pennant in franchise history.

In his eight seasons as manager, Lovullo has 584 victories and 610 losses, which gives him a .489 win percentage. Though under .500 in his career thus far as the Diamondbacks manager, Lovullo has caught many accolades along the way.

Lovullo won Manager of the Year in his first season with the Diamondbacks back in 2017, where he led the team to 93 victories. The award was well deserved because as soon as Lovullo took over, the team made their way into the playoffs.

Knocking off the Colorado Rockies in the Wild Card round before being eliminated by the World Series runner-up Dodgers, the Diamondbacks under Lovullo's era had begun. Since 2017, Lovullo has finished in the top 10 for Manager of the Year three times.

Though Lovullo and the Diamondbacks pissed the postseason this past October, finishing their season with an 89-73 record, Arizona has been active in additions of players through trades and free agent signings.

The NL West division may be the most stacked in all of baseball and has not seen a different winner other than the Dodgers since 2021. The UCLA alum has years of experience, both as a ball player and manager, to get his squad back to playing meaningful baseball.

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